The harbour aquarium in Mevagissey was officially re-opened on 8th June 2006.
Mike Roberts, chairman of the harbour trustees, introduced the Rt. Hon. The Lord
Mayor of London, Alderman David Brewer who then declared the harbour open, in
the presence of the Mayor of Restormel, Mrs Denise Mutton, and other
dignitaries. Many users of the harbour were present, as well as a flag-waving
contingent of pupils from Mevagissey School.

The harbour aquarium at Mevagissey is housed in the old R.N.L.I. lifeboat
house, which was completed in 1897, and housed 3 different lifeboats until 1930
when the advent of motor lifeboats caused the closing down of many of the smaller
lifeboat stations, Mevagissey being one of these.

Since the 1930s the lifeboat house has had many uses, from cafe, shop, gun
emplacement during the second world war (manned by the Home Guard) and in the mid
1950s it turned into an aquarium. For the last 50 years the aquarium has opened
to the delight and interest of visitors and locals alike, and also giving
complementary visits to groups of school and college students. Until the mid
1980s the aquarium was leased from the harbour; however from then on it has been
run by the harbour, gaining charitable status in 1988.

Over the years much work has been carried out, preparing the aquarium for the season; tanks to clean, leaks to seal up, annual decorating,
pumping systems to overhaul and general structural maintenance. In 2004 it was
realised that the 50 year old tanks required replacement, and costs were found to
carry out this. As the costs were high it was considered prudent to check the
structure of the building by a civil engineer. This was carried out and the roof
of the building was condemned. As the aquarium is part of a listed structure,
and the roof was constructed of concrete, it was decided that the roof should be
re-constructed with a similar material.

To fund the project, the Heritage Lottery Fund was approached for a grant. This
was successful and a grant of £50,000 was allocated, which would enable the replacement
of
the structure of the roof and pay for new education and interpretation media
within the aquarium. The local Restormel Council also contributed £15,000.
However costs of building repairs and new tanks being high, we still have a
major shortfall in funding.

We have been lucky enough to have sums of money pledged to us to assist with the cost of
some of the new tanks, and in recognition of the generosity of these pledges, we
shall be placing plaques inside the aquarium to remember them.

The aquarium is an important part of the harbour, and is not only a very
important visitor attraction (averaging 35,000 visitors in a season) but
also an extremely important interface between the general public and the fishing
industry.